Thicker oil for high milage cars?

[RickyD]

I have been reading on the net that people use thicker oil or oil thickener for higher mileage cars with oil burn problems. My HF burns some oil (not sure how much yet) so I changed the oil and ran straight 60 weight racing oil by valvoline. It didnt seem to smoke as much but the acceleartion seemed more slugish. So after 150 miles I added 1/2 a can of seafoam to thin it out a bit thinking the 60 weight is a bit too thick.

What do you guys think?

[VetteOwner]

uhh ya... way to thick...

oil burn is mosy likely worn piston rings or valve guides. how much does yours burn on regular oil? if its only liek a qt between changes leave it...

only way to solve oil burn is to accauly take the engine apart and fix it...you cant just dump some mystry oil stuff in and expect it to be solved. its about the same as saying dumping XXX product in my gas gets me double the mpg!

[Coyote X]

I would say run the thinnest oil you can get away with. If the engine requires 60w then it is probably about time to think of putting new rings in it. I would try maybe 20w40 and see how it responds.

As a general rule the thinnest oil you can get away with will get you the best mileage. If the thin oil makes it burn oil a lot that is also bad for your mileage and engine life because it greatly lowers the octane of the fuel in the combustion chamber. So give thinner oil a shot but if it starts burning it you are pretty much stuck running heavy oil till you get around to rebuilding it.

[RickyD]

Thanks guys.. A mechanic guy I know said to run hotter plugs to help burn everything in the combustion chamber..

Does this make sense?

[VetteOwner]

hmm kinda but its not gonna make it go away, ur oil is still gonan go down...

its like puttign a bandaid on a broken bone...kinda helps but in reality no...

[rGS]

uhh ya... way to thick...

oil burn is mosy likely worn piston rings or valve guides. how much does yours burn on regular oil? if its only liek a qt between changes leave it...

only way to solve oil burn is to accauly take the engine apart and fix it...you cant just dump some mystry oil stuff in and expect it to be solved. its about the same as saying dumping XXX product in my gas gets me double the mpg!

VetteOwner,

Do you know of anyone who's ever taken the "take the engine apart" option to solve oil burn problem?

[RickyD]

Yeah I was thinking it was too thick too but I wanted to try and see what happened. So do you think the half a can of sea foam thinned it out enough.. That stuff is pretty thin. It seems much less slugish after I added it

[SL8Brick]

Yeah I was thinking it was too thick too but I wanted to try and see what happened. So do you think the half a can of sea foam thinned it out enough.. That stuff is pretty thin. It seems much less slugish after I added it

Ummm.....seafoam is a solvent and can prematurely break down any motor oil. Yes, mixing it with a high viscosity oil will lower the overall viscosity, but it will also negate the oil's protective properties. The only safe way to lower an oil's viscosity is to mix a low viscosity oil with high viscosity oil.

And for the record.....I'm a long-time user of high mileage motor oil (Valvoline Maxlife) in my 250k mi. Volvo. My car burns up approx. 1qt of oil every 5k miles while using Maxlife. That figure had been much higher when I've tried conventional oils. I'm also a firm believer is HM oils seal conditioning benefits to help reduce oil leaks.

[96hb]

WOW! Running that thick of an oil in a Honda is just a way to mask what the real problem is. Every Honda I ever had recommended 5w30. If it smokes, either let it smoke or get it fixed. I wouldn't run that weight oil in that engine for long.

[VetteOwner]

Ummm.....seafoam is a solvent and can prematurely break down any motor oil. Yes, mixing it with a high viscosity oil will lower the overall viscosity, but it will also negate the oil's protective properties. The only safe way to lower an oil's viscosity is to mix a low viscosity oil with high viscosity oil.

And for the record.....I'm a long-time user of high mileage motor oil (Valvoline Maxlife) in my 250k mi. Volvo. My car burns up approx. 1qt of oil every 5k miles while using Maxlife. That figure had been much higher when I've tried conventional oils. I'm also a firm believer is HM oils seal conditioning benefits to help reduce oil leaks.


i will agree with this. in my chevette if i use regular castrol GTX it will leak a tiny bit. if i use the catrol GTX high milleage stuff (same weights) it doesnt use a drop:D

[VetteOwner]

VetteOwner,

Do you know of anyone who's ever taken the "take the engine apart" option to solve oil burn problem?

a few people i know have but they were using excessive ammounts (liek half a qt or sometiems a qt every 1-2 weeks:eek: that and they were either mechanics themselves or thier dad is/was;)

but in the general sense, no. noone relaly does:rolleyes:

[Gary Palmer]

RickyD: Short term, you can run a heavier oil to slow down the excessive burn rate. Hotter plugs will probably burn the gunk a little better. I wouldn't use the Seafoam to try to thin the oil out, it's for cleaning, not for running.

If it's using oil, their are a number of possibilities, depending on the mileage, condition of the engine and money. I have two Honda's which I have pulled apart and done a economy rebuild on. They both have about 240,000 miles on them and they don't use any oil to speak of. You could also purchase a used engine, imported from Japan and install that.

For my economy rebuild, because the engine was in good shape, I just had the head rebuilt, with new valve guides and seals. Then on the engine I pulled the pistons, honed the cylinder walls, put in new stock rings, new rod bearings, main bearings, water pump, timing belt, seals and gaskets. When I was done, I had 40psi of oil pressure, when it's warmed up and idling, no oil leaks and it doesn't burn any oil to speak of. All total it cost probably $300-$500.

You can do all of this with the engine in the car, but it is a lot easier to work on the engine when it's out of the car.

[RickyD]

RickyD: Short term, you can run a heavier oil to slow down the excessive burn rate. Hotter plugs will probably burn the gunk a little better. I wouldn't use the Seafoam to try to thin the oil out, it's for cleaning, not for running.

If it's using oil, their are a number of possibilities, depending on the mileage, condition of the engine and money. I have two Honda's which I have pulled apart and done a economy rebuild on. They both have about 240,000 miles on them and they don't use any oil to speak of. You could also purchase a used engine, imported from Japan and install that.

For my economy rebuild, because the engine was in good shape, I just had the head rebuilt, with new valve guides and seals. Then on the engine I pulled the pistons, honed the cylinder walls, put in new stock rings, new rod bearings, main bearings, water pump, timing belt, seals and gaskets. When I was done, I had 40psi of oil pressure, when it's warmed up and idling, no oil leaks and it doesn't burn any oil to speak of. All total it cost probably $300-$500.

You can do all of this with the engine in the car, but it is a lot easier to work on the engine when it's out of the car.

Gary thanks for the great information..

I am a college student and I bought it for the gas mileage because it it 25 miles one way to school. I have a year left and hopefully I can baby it for that year. After that when I get a real job and real money I may have to upgrade to the latest hybrid technology

Or rebuild the crx :)

[cfg83]

Hello -

I think I just figured out something that is obvious to others. A few years ago, I was burning oil and thought I had tappy valves, so I switched to a thicker oil, from 5W30 to maybe 10W50 or someting. The burning oil problem went away. Later on I found out that I didn't have tappy valves after all, so over the course of a few oil changes I went from 10W50 -> 10W40 -> 5W30. Now, I just realized today I was low on oil, so here I am burning oil again.

Extra factors are that I am probably running the engine hotter as a GasSaver (higher temp thermostat), and we are hitting summer waeather, so that may contribute to the burning.

This jives with everything else that has been written. As Coyote X and Gary said, to protect my engine, I will use 10W40 next time.

CarloSW2

[ffvben]

old schoolers used to use the heavy oil on their race cars, the high compression needs thicker oil . as diesels use the 15w50 for the massive pressures. my own gas truck, i use what it calls for 5w30. some of the newer cars that require 5w20 need it thin to get to the close tolerance bearings to keep it cool/lubed. but if your burning oil, poss rings/seals are worn/old. thicker oil might be a temp fix. I've also seen Lucas oil treatment, its like honey(very sticky), it helps reduce wear on cold starts. i think its a good idea to make your Eng run for a long time. but I'm not sure if mpg will drop because of it.

[88HF]

I used that lucas oil or differential oil stuff in an 89 civic hatch I used to have. It seemed to work at first but it was probably too thick. That car used oil no matter what. I find that all my hondas have kinda leaked oil from all the seals. I really miss the hatch and my 94 accord too. The 89 hatch was a sweet little all purpose vehicle. Backseats were nice in both. Its easy for someone to say replace the rings, but if you don't have the money and don't feel comfortable under the hood all you can do is try the cheap additives and hope something works before you end up lost in a huge black cloud everywhere you go. An instructor I had at auto school told us this story about a buddy of his got a boat that would haul *** burn all the gas and shutoff, seemed like it was overheated. He kept bringing it to get checked out and nothing they suggested or did helped. Turns out they forgot to install the piston rings at the manufacturer.

[quadancer@bellsouth.net]

One old school trick (not that old, really) is to use single viscosity oil. It's getting harder to find, but it does help older engines in temperate climates. (I'm in Georgia) I'd use the STP oil treatment before Lucas, due to things I'd read. And only half a bottle at first; it may be all you need.
As was posted, if you need super viscosity to keep the oil in, you need a rebuild. Rebuild in a can is like fatburner pills. Yeah, good luck with that.

[RoadWarrior]

Forget the additives, use a decent brand name "High Milage" oil, in the recommended grade, Pennzoil seems best on mine, followed by Castrol, followed by MotoMaster followed by Valvoline Maxlife (Which seems to have an overabundance of cleaners and not so many seal conditioners. So if sticky rings are the issue, it might work better, but if leaky seals are then the others might do better)

[JoeBob]

Uh, I know this is an old post, but....

Yes, I have taken the "take the engine apart" option. Worked like a champ after I put the engine back together again. That is the part that was left out of the question. Had a '65 Plymouth Fury that was getting 30 miles to the quart of oil (yet it passed smog!). Top rings had about a 1/4" gap. Tons of sludge in the valve train and in the oil pan. Fortunately the pistons, cylinder walls and crank were in good shape. New set of rings, bearings, seals, sent the heads to a machine shop to verify condition of valves, etc. Went from 30 to 1000 miles to the quart. If I had sent the block out to be reworked rather than just honing the cylinders, it might have even done better than that!

Did the same with a Corvair. Also with a '62 Rambler American. Others I waited until they smoked or didn't pass smog.

I have had several other friends who have done the same thing, only one was a mechanic.

VetteOwner,

Do you know of anyone who's ever taken the "take the engine apart" option to solve oil burn problem?